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SHOW ME THE GOODS: Staff at Samsung's CommunicAsia booth show trade visitors the Omnia, a mobile phone that rivals the iPhone. Now products and programmes were unveiled at the event.
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THE Government is looking at new technologies, including online fingerprint scans, that could one day let Singaporeans make more transactions - like applying to use CPF funds - over the Internet.
While an increasing number of people here are plugging into broadband connections, concerns over security breaches have held back these so-called government e-services.
But yesterday, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang announced plans to develop a high-tech security system for government websites.
It would mean Singaporeans have to get through two levels of security to access services.
Called two-factor authentication (2FA), this is similar to what Internet banking customers do: They need a username and password to get through a first level of security, and then have to key in a second, randomly generated password sent to them remotely by their bank.
While the Government has not decided what technology it would use for 2FA, possibilities include a fingerprint scan or a security token that generates a random password, like what some banks use for online banking.
Dr Lee said it is critical to provide a secure way of logging on so that more users will trust these e-services and use them, especially as more and more people switch to broadband.
Almost 83 per cent of Singapore households have broadband connections, Dr Lee revealed yesterday, up from 67 per cent last year, and not far off the Government's target of 90 per cent by 2015.
Dr Lee, who was speaking at the opening of the yearly Infocomm Media Business Exchange trade show, said the Government will spend $20 million to make e-services more secure.
Though the date for the roll-out is not fixed yet, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will call for proposals in the next six months to develop this system, dubbed the National Authentication Framework.
With improved security, 'sensitive' transactions can be carried out over the Internet instead of over the counter, the IDA said.
At yesterday's event, held at Singapore Expo, Dr Lee also gave the infocomm sector a glowing report card.
The industry grew at a healthy rate, he said: Revenues rose 14 per cent to $51.68 billion last year, boosted by rapid growth in China and India. Exports accounted for 65 per cent of that revenue.
Market watchers, however, said the outlook for this year is more cloudy. They say economic woes elsewhere could slow growth here.
Mr Manoj Menon, a partner at technology consultancy Frost & Sullivan, expects companies to spend less on infocomm in the second half of the year.
But he also said investments in computers could help companies manage their resources better in a time of sky-high oil prices and other cost increases.
'Budgets are tightening but, at the same time, many companies are seeing they can actually save costs by spending more on infocomm,' he said.
siewtha@sph.com.sg
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